CLEVELAND — Every day for the first 10 seasons of his professional basketball career, Byron Scott went to work alongside arguably the best point guard in the history of the NBA — Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers.

If you talk to Scott, there’s no argument.

“I’m a little biased,” the Cavaliers coach said. “I still think he’s the best point guard ever. The fact that I had an opportunity to see it on an everyday basis, sometimes you take that for granted because he does so many things and you get so familiar with it that it’s no big deal.

“Going back and watching some of the games I’ve watched over these past months, all these NBA classics, there’s still no doubt in my mind that he’s the best point guard ever because he had such unique skills.”

The current crop of point guards in the NBA includes stars like Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo and Deron Williams. They’re all different, but they still get the job done.

Scott enters his second season with the Cavs with a trio of young point guards, including Kyrie Irving, the No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft. Although he’s just 19 and played in only 11 games in his lone season at Duke because of a toe injury, the 6-foot-3 Irving probably is the best floor general of the three. Ramon Sessions, 6-3, is probably the best driver, and Daniel Gibson, 6-2, the best shooter.

Scott thinks there are traits the great point guards have in common in spite of their differences. Besides playing with Johnson, he also has coached Kidd and Paul.

“Unbelievable drive to win and a competitive nature unlike most people,” Scott said. “They just can’t stand losing in anything. We’d play cards on the bus and on the plane, and if you beat (Magic), he’d almost try to fight you just to play you some more if you said you were going to quit. Chris Paul was the same way. Jason Kidd was the same way.

“I think that’s the main thing. They’ve got a competitive nature unlike most people in this world, and they’ve got a will that’s unlike most people in this world.”

This season, Scott said he can play any two of his three point guards together.

“I think we’re all interchangeable, which is pretty cool,” Gibson said. “We’re all around the same height. So we’re able to get out there and play off of each other. With this offense being so interchangeable, I think guys can shoot, pass and dribble, so we’re all able to do some of the same things.”

When Scott ran his Princeton offense, there was one primary ballhandler, but the guards at both positions were able to start the offense and had to know how to run everything on both ends of the floor. There weren’t necessarily a point guard and a shooting guard.

With the shortened training camp and fewer practices likely in this shortened season, Scott has scrapped the Princeton offense for now, going with a much simpler set of basic plays. But his opinion on point guards and shooting guards hasn’t changed.

“I still look at guards as guards and forwards as forwards,” he said. “If you’re a point guard, obviously, you can say he’s a point guard. But to me, an off guard has to be able to do some of the same things. You’ve got to be able to handle the ball, run the offense. That’s why I’ve always believed in two-guard fronts most of the time. If you don’t have a two-guard who can handle the ball, you’re in trouble.”

Irving will become the primary ballhandler as Scott grooms him to take over the team.

“He has a world of talent,” Scott said. “If he’s everything we think he can be, he’ll have the ball in his hands plenty of times.”

Irving doesn’t seem overwhelmed … yet.

“I feel like I’m pretty comfortable,” Irving said during training camp. “I’m not where I need to be or where Coach Scott feels like I need to be. That’s just going to continue with our work in here and getting better every single day.

“We’re continuing to get better every day in training camp. I’m getting a feel for my teammates — where they like (the ball) on the court — and just getting accustomed to us playing with different rotations out there.”

Comfort is key in Scott’s system. Asked what Scott asks his point guards to do, Gibson said, “He just asks us, first of all, before anything, to play hard. He asks us to play as hard as we can, play smart and just play basketball. When we get out there on the floor, Coach Scott gives us a level where we’re comfortable. He doesn’t want us to step out of our comfort zone. ‘Just do what you do best’ is what he says.

“So when you’re out there on the floor, he puts us in positions where we can be most productive. He just tells us to go play.”